Pre-PGCE Advice

Reading a few threads on the TES, and thinking to my own future, have got me thinking again about what I did before I started the PGCE. So I’m writing this now to:

a) Reflect on the things I found useful and
b) Hopefully give a useful perspective for a few other trainee teachers, too.

Seven pieces of advice I would give to my pre-PGCE self are:

1) Read up on the key texts.
2) Consider what you’re going to do to relax.
3) Ensure that friends and family are aware that the next year of your life will require 70 hour working weeks.
4) Pass your driving test (or have access to a car.)
5) Purchase a laminator. And pens. And laptop.
6) Magpie as many resources as you can.
7) Befriend the positive types first, the aspirational types second, and the funny types third.

1) Read up on the key texts.
I was lucky to be sent a comprehensive reading pack by a friend of a friend. From it I read these key texts and made notes.

2) Consider what you’re going to do to relax.
My Monday-Friday routine was to wake up at 6:15am, return home from school between 5:30pm and 6:30pm. I would ensure that I had a complete break from work for an hour. I would then plan lessons/mark/read until 9pm. Twice a week I would stop at 8:15pm to swim or run. I would always stop at 9pm, and read until sleeping.

While one of my peers managed to work to midnight on a regular basis and thrive, she was a brave exception. Those who did work until a job was finished (i.e. passed 10pm on a regular basis) struggled with having the energy to perform in front of a class.)

I never worked on a Friday evening. Ever. That was, for me, a golden rule. That and eating out/having a take away.

On Saturday, I would only work two out of morning, afternoon and evening. From my university days, I found that if I did work intermittently throughout the day, I would feel like I had worked all day (when I clearly hadn’t.)

3) Ensure that friends and family are aware that the next year of your life will require 70 hour working weeks.

4) Pass your driving test (or have access to a car.)
I passed my driving test later in life. I began to learn to drive in February. It cost me about £1000. And it was worth every penny.

I used to commute on a bike 8 miles every day for three years prior to the PGCE. Through the rain and snow and wind. Yes, I was fit. But there was no way I wanted to turn up to a school where I needed to teach as a student teacher with windswept hair.

5) Purchase a laminator. And pens. And laptop.

By the end of my PGCE I was on first name terms with the staff of the York Staples store. I laminated an incredible number of cards. And they served me well. Definitely purchase one. You’ll understand why later.

I also purchased a laserjet printer for £50 that was purely black and white. I would never never never use a colour printer for printing worksheets. Home colour printers are, in 99% of the cases, universally useless.

A new laptop (or one that is entirely formatted) is also essential. If you’re reading this, then you’re digitally literate enough to use one. I would recommend www.laptopsdirect.co.uk as somewhere that sells laptops at their absolute cheapest (inasmuch as they are a factory in Huddersfield). Generally speaking, whatever is £400 at that time is entry price for both laptops and desktops – you can usually get something that would be priced £500-£600+ elswhere. My own PC cost me £500 (with a £100 monitor) and was priced £800 in a Scarborough store.

6) Magpie as many resources as you can.
Part of preparing resources is the fact that you are investing yourself in the lesson to come – tweaking a worksheet or a passage so you can consider it part of your teaching voice. Another part of preparing resources (and one that is more important, I think) is the fact that there are tens of thousands of resources already out there made by teachers with plenty of experience.

This was a piece of advice given to me by a head of maths in a Hull school who I bumped into during the Edinburgh Marathon last week. He is a giant of a man, both in his size and his personality.

He told me to make sure that I chose the people that I befriended carefully. This is a piece of advice that I tell my exam classes every year. However, it wasn’t exactly something that I followed myself! I was attracted to the funniest types first. Few, if any, are still in teaching though.

So, for me the PGCE it was a great year. A difficult year, yes, but one that was rewarding. I think what made it good was that I managed to find a routine that worked for me. And a laminator.